Krishna Rajarathnam, PhD

Research

Our laboratory is interested in exploiting the structural elements of proteins for rational drug design. Chemokines, a large
family of cytokines, have gained tremendous attention in recent years
for their role in immune and inflammation related processes, HIV
infection, metastasis, and organogenesis.They mediate their function by
binding to G-protein coupled 7-TM receptors on leukocytes. We are
interested in understanding the molecular basis of ligand-receptor
interaction. Knowledge of the structure, dynamics, and thermodynamics of
the ligand in the free and the receptor-bound form is essential to
accomplish this goal.It is now possible to determine structures of
proteins and protein-receptor complexes beyond 20 to 30 kDa due to
advances in NMR methodology and availability of high field
spectrometers. We will use a variety of multinuclear and
multidimensional NMR techniques in conjunction with protein engineering
and molecular modeling. These studies will form the foundation for
designing lead compounds that could function as drugs for diseases such
as cancer, heart diseases, and AIDS.